For many, the first shot in the most recent conflict in Gaza was fired at 6:29 a.m. Pacific on Nov. 14.

"The IDF has begun a widespread campaign on terror sites & operatives in the #Gaza Strip, chief among them #Hamas & Islamic Jihad targets," the account of the Israeli Defense Forces, @IDFspokesperson, tweeted. Soon after that, the IDF added a second tweet: "The first target, hit minutes ago, was Ahmed Al-Jabari, head of the #Hamas military wing," with a link to the IDF blog. Then it sent a stark warning to Hamas: "We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead."

IDF then added an image of Al-Jabari, with the word "Eliminated" attached.

What helped make IDF's social presence a true war of words, however, was Hamas's participation. Within minutes, the @AlqassamBrigade account had begun tweeting its own accounts of the fighting, presenting images of what the account said was casualties of the attacks, and reporting its own initiatives against the Israeli forces and Israel herself.

Both sides attempted to use social media as a means of persuasion to attract converts and shift world opinion to its side. As far as the number of social networks used, the IDF appears to be winning: the Israelis have a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, even Tumblr. The IDF also had a presence on YouTube, where it posted a video purporting to show an Israeli strike on the car that killed a
Al-Jabari. YouTube originally took down the video, then reinstated it.

Hamas, however, has the active Twitter account as well as some Facebook pages that may or may not be linked to it. It appears that the first tweets of this new online war caught the world by surprise; the tweet announcing Al-Jabar's killing has just 246 retweets.

One thing is clear, however: with social media, organizations don't need the media to get their message out. They can do it themselves.

1IDF Twitter

For many, the first shot in the most recent conflct was fired online, when the @IDFSpokesperson account announced a "widespread campaign on terror sites & operatives in the #Gaza Strip." The Twitter account is updated as frequently as every few minutes, providing commentary, images, and video from the Israeli side.

2IDF Pinterest

Interestingly, the IDF Pinterest page has attracted almost no traffic at all, with just 168 followers and no likes. But the pinned images are quite neutral, with groups that include "Women in the IDF," "IDF Events," and "Humanitarian Aid." The IDF clearly prefers Facebook and Flickr to Pinterest.

3IDF Facebook

With over 233,000 likes at press time, the IDF's Facebook page is a popular outlet for the Israeli side. The site isn't as nearly as active as the IDF Twitter account, but Facebook's ability to present longer posts and directly embed photos makes it more engaging.

4IDF Flickr

Flickr is one of the social media sites of which Hamas or the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades have yet to take advantage. IDF's Flickr account is full of the sort of infographic and iconic images that the IDF would like to go viral.

5IDF Tumblr

6IDF Instagram

The official IDF Instagram account has posted 37 photos and has 708 followers. As Buzzfeed pointed out this week, however, many IDF members are using their own Instagram accounts to chronicle the conflict.

7Alqassam Brigade Twitter

The mouthpiece of the military wing of Hamas, the @AlqassamBrigade account leapt into action soon after the car containing Ahmed Jabari was hit, killing him. Since the fighting began, the account has described its own attacks as well as events in Gaza, posting several dramatic and sometimes gory photos.

8Alqassam Brigades Facebook

It’s not quite clear if this is an official account or not, but with two separate but active Facebook pages, it's clear that Hamas and its sympathizers are attempting to use Facebook to present its own side of the action.